Feeding foxes?

[Alex90]

Hi All,

Was hoping some of you might have experience in getting foxes used to the presence of people or a person. I remember when i was about 3-5 my dad used to put food out in the back yard and foxes would visit occaisionally.

We moved house a month or so ago, to a really nice house with quite a large amount of land including private woods, since moving i have seen several foxes crossing the gardens or the drive but nearly always form in a car.

I am looking to start putting food out for them on a night time and eventually get a fox/foxes used to my presence giving me the opportunity to photograph them.

The house already had a really good CCTV system in place with a number of camera's positioned around the exterior of the building and i have seen foxes on the infa red camera's several times so i know they are coming up to the house.

I was just wondering if there are any tried methods that have been used to do this sort of thing? i would imagine i will start by putting food out every night and once the foxes start visiting regurlarly if not nightly i will sit out in the night/early morning and see if i can get them used to me being there/near.

We have had Roe deer in the garden as well as a variety of other animals. I have also seen a barn owl on the golf course which is situated about 300 metres in front of the house but i havent seen it there since.

Any advice much appreciated, also what food wood you use? My Family and I are vegetarians so there isnt the scrap meat that you might get in your average household so im looking at probably going with canned dog food or something along those lines.

Alex

[caernerch]

the best way to do it, needs a lot of patience.
foxes will eat almost anything but buy a big bag of cheap frozen supermarket chicken drumsticks (cook them) and feed every night at the same time. try and wear the same old coat or jumper (something that really smells of you). when you know they're taking your offerings start talking softly all the time you are out - you won't see them but I bet they'll be watching you. don't move quickly or stare directly at where you think they are and never point in their direction.
getting them to come in the garden should be quite easy - but getting them to tolerate you out in the open is another matter - it's a big ask of them to come close to a human. As a halfway step, you could try leaving a window open and talking to them from inside the house. don't rush things - if you loose their confidence you may never get it back, despite ther bad rep. they're quite a nervous animal (I don't blame them).
good luck
caernerch

[artdemole]

TRY feeding the fox some fruit,put out about time fox visits.Other birds and animals will finish off any leftovers..

[artdemole]

PS...If you are vegatarian and not vegan then you could try some tinned tunna the aroma will help.

[dave midi]

Hi Alex

We spent a weekend making a new flower border just outside the back door. Unknown to us, foxes love new topsoil. They also love the bonemeal we put in at the roots of what we planted
This is what initially attracted them to our yard as the little buggers dug it all up!

I agree about the chicken, but would definitely NOT cook it. Giving dogs cooked chicken bones is not a good idea because they can splinter and cause the animal harm. Foxes also get nutrition from the bones, and they have very sharp teeth, no problem crunching up raw chicken bones.
I buy the cheap tray of chicken wings from tescos and cut each one into 3 pieces, they love these. They also love chicken breasts, but who doesn't.

I had a fussy fox who would turn his nose up at anything other than chicken..oh well, I spoiled him.
They will generally speaking eat most things, but meat is the priority. They also have a sweet tooth, but don't give them chocolate unless it's doggie chocolate.

[toadpole]

i have about 5or 6 different foxes visit on my front lawn every night i have a badger too and of course they would polish off his food if they got a chance ....so i tried a variety of things to see what the foxes like best and they def have a sweet tooth ....so if i put out p. nuts.. go cat biscuits... and sultanas for the badger (i sprinkle them over the whole lawn ) and as the foxes seem to like to pick something up and take it away to eat , the badger food proves far too time consuming .for them ....for the foxes


i put out broken custard creams ....buttered hot cross buns and some large bonio dog biscuits ...this seems to keep every body happy and there's food for everyone our house is a veggie house too but i occassionaly buy them pet mince from the local market ...but they seem happy with anything ...but def would try a strong smelling food first to get their attention then they will be happy with whatever ...its allways gone by the morning ....and if i have a bruised apple thats allways taken too ....one thing i do keep to is the same time every night and allways feed every night whatever the weather .....i think i kept them going in the really cold weather and never missed 1 night so they see my lawn as a definate mealticket ! good luck marion.................. ps the female fox brought her 3 little cubs every night then sadly she got run over but they knew they would get a feed from my place and then i did suppliment them with a lot of tins of cat food as they seemed so small .....but boy have they grown up now

[caernerch]

bird & other bones are part of the foxes natural diet so there is no need to wory about bones cooked or otherwise, things go down piecemeal - they regurgitate or pass bits of bone quite naturally - unlike our pampered pooches. my own are urban foxes and are well used to cooked food even the half eaten curry the Friday night drunks leave around the high street. I've tried putting out raw chicken when I was busy but they turned their ruddy noses up at it and just sat there staring at the kitchen window. Foxes are such a successful species because they will eat almost anything animal or vegetable. But that doesn't mean they don't have their favourites.
caernerch

[aland]

It is nice to see that there are lot's of folk that like these creature's, my wife as been feeding them for a long time and one thing they like is a large roasted bone that you can buy for dog's and bonio's and smaller dog biscuit's, My wife can sit in a field and young foxe's will settle down within feet of her, But please for their sake do not make them too tame, i am glad to say the vixen here does not trust me!!! We had the hunt trespass on our ground and fetch out this vixon three week's ago but with the help of my daughter she managed to get back to our stable's after running for her life, i am afraid the mouthfull my wife and daughter gave the hunt's women was disgusting.

[dave midi]

I was thinking that 20 - 30 people on horses with a pack of hounds against a fox isn't really fair odds.
Supply the foxes with a 12 bore and that should even it up a bit, eh!

[aland]

This little vixen was born in our stables last march/April, and as a den under the hay shed floor, The hunt makes us very unhappy but we cannot do any thing about them except see them off our own land, This is very near to the airfield that the hunt supporter was killed last year with the giro copter, very sad and he should have stayed away from the runway.